Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Minor Odes of the Kingdom, Decade of Tong Gong

[x_los]

* I found the best option for the weekly reminder emails, via Gmail. The external service options are more involved than our purposes require. Does anyone know anything about how to arrange an Apps Script? Basically all it has to do is tell ten people, on Saturdays, to come and get their juice/poems.

Until someone knows what to do there, I'll send out manual messages weekly. If you'd like to receive these and are not getting them, please let me know.

* If you haven't read it yet, chapter one, on tetrasyllabic shi poetry, in How to Read Chinese Poetry is hugely useful for the Book of Odes, imo.

* IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN or have other ideas, please let me know on this post.

* Every week I search the poems' English results to see if I can find any scholarship or neat bits and pop the results in Resources. Here is this week's collection.

* I recently wrote about the China History Podcast, which has a whole series on Tang Poetry, and might well be of general interest.

**NEXT BATCH APRIL 12.**

Comments

179. 車攻 - Che Gong

[x_los]

我車既攻、我馬既同。
四牡龐龐、駕言徂東。

Our chariots were strong,
Our horses were well matched,
And with four steeds [for each], sleek and large,
We yoked and proceeded to the east.

田車既好、四牡孔阜。
東有甫草、駕言行狩。

Our hunting carriages were good,
And their four steeds in fine condition.
Eastwards were the grassy plains of Fu; -
We yoked and went there to hunt.

之子于苗、選徒囂囂。
建旐設旄、搏獸于敖。

Of the officers in charge of the hunt,
The voices resounded as they told off the men.
They set up the banners, with ox-tails displayed,
And we proceeded to pursue the chase in Ao.

駕彼四牡、四牡奕奕。
赤芾金舄、會同有繹。

With their four-horsed chariots [they came],
Forming a long train,
In their red knee-covers and gold-adorned slippers,
Like the crowd of an occasional or a general audience.

決拾既佽、弓矢既調。
射夫既同、助我舉柴。

The bowstring thimbles and armlets were fitted on;
The bows and arrows were adjusted to one another;
The archers acted in unison,
Helping us to rear a pile of game.

四黃既駕、兩驂不猗。
不失其馳、舍矢如破。

Of the four yellow horses of each chariot,
The two outsiders inclined not to either side.
No error in driving was committed,
And the arrows went forth like downright blows.

蕭蕭馬鳴、悠悠旆旌。
徒御不驚、大庖不盈。

As if at their ease, the horses neighed,
Long and slow moved the line of pennons and banners;
The footmen and charioteers created no alarms;
The great kitchen did not claim its full complement.

之子于征、有聞無聲。
允矣君子、展也大成。

So did the officers conduct this expedition,
Without any clamour in the noise of it.
Truly a princely man is [the king];
Great indeed are his achievements!

Re: 179. 車攻 - Che Gong

[x_los]

'an occasional or a general audience.' what's this about?

And what does the line about the great kitchen signify?

Re: 179. 車攻 - Che Gong

[superborb]

Baike says this is about the same king as the two previous poems, Zhou Xuan wang, hunting with his feudal vassals/princes in the eastern city (? not sure if this is a particular city or what)

'like the crowd of an occasional or a general audience': [the second part of the phrase:] a meeting of the feudal vassals/princes, a specific name for the feudal princes to have an audience with the emperor. Here, refers to the feudal princes participating in the emperor's hunt. [the first part of the phrase:] continuously, an unceasing and orderly appearance
'The great kitchen': the emperor's kitchen

Re: 179. 車攻 - Che Gong

[x_los]

'Did not claim it's full compliment' remains kind of mysterious, alas

Re: 179. 車攻 - Che Gong

[superborb]

So the original phrase means "the emperor's kitchen" "not" "filled/surplus", but the Baike vernacular translation says 猎毕厨房野味盈 after hunting, the kitchen was filled with game. It says about the seventh stanza as a whole that it describes after the hunt, the successful and fruitful achievements and relaxing of tension.

I don't think I understand what the "not" is supposed to do here; maybe it is some poetic or archaic form?

Re: 179. 車攻 - Che Gong

[x_los]

ooookay so like. the kitchen is fully stocked. rather than what it looks like: the kitchen goes under-provisioned. That is NOT an intuitive one.